How to Run Stock Android OS On Huawei and Honor Phones

If EMUI Android skin on the Huawei and Honor phones is not your cup of tea, OpenKirin is giving you a chance to switch to stock-Android. The project offers three stock Android ROMs for now – LineageOS, Resurrection Remix OS and CarbonOS, to flash on any EMUI 8 running devices.

Cutting to the chase, here’s how to install stock-Android on your Huawei and Honor devices:

*Note: Huawei is closing the bootloader unlock code (essential for installing ROMs) on July 22, so you better hurry. We are not sure if you can unlock the bootloader after it is shut down as of now.

Step 1: You must have an unlocked bootloader to proceed. Next, take backup of your phone’s data as installing the ROM requires a factory reset.

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Step 2: Install the Fastboot and ADB, which is a requirement to install OpenKirin ROMs. Download fastboot.zip

Step 3: Go to the download page and download OpenKirin ROM you wish to install. If the ROM you’ve downloaded is compressed (file ends with extension .xz), extract the ROM .img file using WinRar or 7-zip.

Step 4: Place the .img file in the same folder where you installed Fastboot.

Step 5: Installation of stock-Android on Huawei/ Honor phone – Power off the device and connect it to your PC with the USB cable. While the device is powered down, hold the volume down key, and if you’ve done it correctly, you will see “PHONE Unlocked” and “FRP Unlock” flash on the screen.

Image credit: OpenKirin

Step 6: Keep your device connected to the PC, and from the screen open a command prompt/terminal in the same directory where you have installed fastboot and copied the ROM .img file.

Step 7: In the command window, enter the command fastboot flash system <name-of-rom-image-file>.

Image credit: OpenKirin

Step 8: Press enter to install new ROM on your device.

Image credit: OpenKirin

Step 9: Once it’s done, type the command fastboot reboot and unplug your phone. Now, hold Power + VolUp buttons of the device simultaneously and wait for a while until the Huawei/Honor logo appears on your screen.

Image credit: OpenKirin

Step 10: Press the “Wipe data/factory reset” button and say goodbye to EMUI custom ROM. From here on, you can experience the vanilla Android on your Huawei and Honor devices.

What is OpenKirin?

OpenKirin is a team of developers who believe that a pure, AOSP Android experience should be easily available for users running Huawei devices with Kirin chipsets. Developing AOSP builds for Kirin can often be challenging due to the implementation of Android on Kirin devices, but the team has successfully delivered stable software that most of us could use on their daily drivers.